Euro 2008 – Preview

After a long break since the end of Barclay’s Premier League, we meet again for Euro 2008. If you are still not aware, this year’s tournament is jointly hosted by Austria and Switzerland and the tournament starts on Saturday, 6th of June.

Let’s take a look at the teams and favourites for this year’s tournament.

Group A

• Czech Republic
• Portugal
• Switzerland
• Turkey

The favourites to progress to next round from this group have to be Czech Republic and Portugal.

Group B

• Austria
• Croatia
• Germany
• Poland

The favourites to progress to next round from this group have to be Germany and Croatia.

Group C

• France
• Holland
• Italy
• Romania

The so-called Group of Death which could go anyway. Favourites to progress to next round from this group will be France and Italy.

Group D

• Greece
• Russia
• Spain
• Sweden

The favourites to progress to next round from this group have to be Russia and Spain.

 Quarter-Finals

• Czech Republic vs Croatia
• Germany vs Portugal
• France vs Spain
• Russia vs Italy

Semi-Finals

• Czech Republic vs Germany
• France vs Italy

Finals

• Germany vs France

Winner

FRANCE !!

BPL Weekend – 19th-20th April

The BPL 2007-2008 is coming to a close with only three games remaining and the final pieces to the jigsaw are getting in place now. Man Utd can more or less confirm the title with a win at Blackburn, Liverpool can retain their customary 4th place with a win away to Fulham and the relegation candidates can also be confirmed.

However, as we saw last week, football is a funny game and you can never predict the unexpected. We have to bear in mind that Man Utd and Liverpool have Champions League games in midweek and some first team players might be rested. Though Man Utd have depth in reserves, this cannot be said the same of Liverpool. Benitez will rest Torres for sure (and probably Gerrard) and the Liverpool are very ordinary without these two. If you guys still remember, Fulham won last season’s game 1-0 to stay in the league !!

This week’s matches …

Wigan vs Tottenham

Wigan have been playing well recently and the pitch at JJB stadium (which they share with the local rugby team) is in awful condition. Wigan have used the condition of the pitch to their advantage and have almost retained their Premier League status for another season. Steve Bruce has a full team to select form and Chris Kirkland has been in fine form that they have kept a few clean sheets at home lately.

Tottenham have been a completly different team since they won the League Cup. With European place secured and not being affected by relegation worries, the players do not seem to have any motivation or desire to win.

Prediction : Wigan Win 1-0/2-1

Other games :

• Arsenal vs Reading : Arsenal, -1.5
• Blackburn vs Man Utd : Man Utd, +1.5
• Fulham vs Liverpool : Draw
• Middlesbrough vs Bolton : Boro
• West Ham vs Derby : West Ham
• Aston Villa vs Birmingham : Draw
• Man City vs Portsmouth : Portsmouth
• Newcastle vs Sunderland : Newcastle 

 

Clash of the Titans …

It’s hard to update blogs after your predictions are no way near the final results … the two games which I was most confident yesterday, played me out while the other games which I was not so confident about, came out true. Hmmmmm ……

Anyway, let’s look into one of the key matches of the season … Man Utd vs Arsenal !

Man Utd are in a confident mood and are looking good for a win … Even Singapore Pools think so too as the opening odds for Utd win were at 1.80 (now at 1.55) …

With a tough list of fixtures awaiting Man Utd, Utd should try to win all their home matches, where they are in a different form altogether … Rooney and Ronaldo were rested against Roma and should be fresh to continue their good partnership .. Vidic is still out but Utd have good backup in Pique, Silvestre and Brown .. Tevez , Ronaldo and Rooney have scored 50 of the 70 league goals this season and there will be goals if the three of them start.

Arsenal are looking at yet another season without a trophy and defeat at Old Trafford will confirm that. The three games against Liverpool would have drained them out physically and psychologically and it would take a momentus effort from Arsene Wenger to motivate his players tonight …

Fabregas has lost steam and he looks aimless … Adebayor is missing chances which he used to finish easily .. Brendner is a waste .. Defence is leaking too many goals .. confidence is at a very low ..

Prediction : Man Utd Win

In the other match of the day … Liverpool face Blackburn at home in a match which should see them win to have a stronger grip on their customary fourth place !!!

With Everton failing to win at Birmingham yesterday, this will be a good chance for Liverpool to open up a small gap with only 4 games left in the season .. The problem is, you do not what kind of changes Rafa Benitez will make to the team … Javier Mascherano is still suspended but with Torres and Gerrard in great form, this should be an easy win for Liverpool .

 

 

 

Battle @ the Bottom !

With the Big Four playing each other on Sunday, Saturday will see a few relegation battles with a lot of surprises ….

Tottenham vs Portsmouth

Tottenham held Chelsea to a 4-4 draw in midweek and were lucky to have scored 4 goals. Cudicini and the Chelsea defence lost the plot in the last few minutes of the game and Chelsea fans would be hoping for the swift return of Petr Cech !!

Portsmouth are building well for their FA Cup semi-final and would be relishing this game at White Hart Lane as their away form this season is pretty good. Jermaine Defoe will miss this game against his former team due to FA regulations and it is a pity as he has been scoring in all the games he has played for Pompey ! 

Portsmouth are fresh after a week’s rest while Spurs had a tough game against Chelsea over the midweek. Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate played in the midweek game (and let in 4 goals !!) and it would be interesting to see if Juande Ramos will play them again in this match.

Prediction : Pompey to take advantage of Spurs tiredness and sneak a narrow win !!

Blackburn vs Wigan

Blackburn have dropped points in their last 2 games, losing to West Ham and drawing at home to Fulham. The loss of Ryan Nelson at the back has disrupted their rhythm and it will continue this weekend against the resurgent Wigan team.

Wigan performed admirably with 10 men for almost 85 mins of the game against Bolton at the JJB Stadium and full marks need to given to Steve Bruce for turning the tide at Wigan.

In a duel between two former Man Utd greats, Steve Bruce’s team are in better form and they will not lose this game.

Prediction : Wigan not to lose, +1.5 on Wigan

Reading vs Birmingham City

Steve Coppell has effectively stamped his authority on Reading which has seen some good performances lately, 2 wins and 1 narrow defeat against Liverpool. Reading are usually hard to beat at the Madjeski Stadium and are now performing better after recent slump.

Birmingham have performed below their best after losing Martin Taylor in the recent matches. They will find it difficult to break down a resolute Reading team away from home. They have an awful away record (2 w, 3 D, 10 L) and their last win was against Spurs some 3 months ago.

Prediction : A comfortable Reading Win (No surprises here !!)

Other Matches :

• Middlesbrough vs Derby – Draw
• Bolton vs Man City – Bolton Win
• Villa vs Sunderland – Draw
• Newcastle vs Fulham – Draw
• Everton vs West Ham – Everton Win 

BPL – Midweek Games – 5th March ‘08

With all the FA Cup upsets over the weekend, it’s time to look at the BPL in this midweek matchday where three matches are being played. With none of the top 4 still involved in the FA Cup, the number of UEFA Cup slots will be only this season and the fight for that sole spot has heated up.

Aston Villa vs Middlesboro 

The safest mantra for betting on Villa games is ‘if Ashley Young plays, Villa will not lose” ! .. definitely not against a toothless Boro team. The goals Boro conceded against Cardiff City were so silly that I am confidently predicting that Villa will win this game comfortably without conceding ..

Prediction : Home win, -1.5

Chelsea vs Derby

The FA Cup exit will be a hard blow for Roman Abromovich and Chelsea could end this season without a trophy !! .. They will beat Chelsea but the question is by how many goals ? .. To make matters worse, Derby have nothing to play for and relegation to League Championship is more or less confirmed.  Chelsea players would like to make amends to their fans and win this for them even though, they have stopped playing for their coach !! Avram Grant is the unofficial seat warmer for Frank Rijkaard and he has lost the total confidence of his players.

Prediction : Chelsea to win .. by 2/3 goals (They have a long unbeaten run at Stamford Bridge which is due to be broken by Arsenal on Mar 23 or by Man Utd on April 26 !!!)

Portsmouth vs Birmingham

Portsmouth have more or realised that FA Cup is their only logical option to playing in Europe next season and will be trying to avoid any serious injuries to key players while playing the league matches. With Everton and Liverpool fighting neck and neck for the 4th UEFA Champions League spot, the loser of the battle will be the obvious choice for the UEFA Cup place. Defoe and Baros will be playing in most of the league matches from now on so that Kanu is kept fresh for FA Cup matches.

Birmingham have registerd some key results in the last few matches and are slowly moving away from relegation. Even 1 point is good enough for McLeish’s men and they will be playing for a draw.

Prediction : Draw 

S-League 2008 – Gombak Utd vs Tampines Rovers

It was a surprise to see Singapore Pools having Tampines as the favourites for this game !

Tampines 2008 edition is not the same as any of the previous seasons and they will definitely struggle to finish in the top three this season. The loss of key players such as, Alam Shah, Mirko Grobovac, Peres de Oliveira and Nazri Nasir have weakened the side from the East. Gombak are essentially the same squad as the last season with Gabrieal Obadin Aikhena moving to Young Lions.

For today’s game, Tampines are further weakened with the non-availability of Rafi Ali, Ibrahim Noh, Razif Mahmud (all yet to pass the Beep Test), Sead Muratovic and Shariff Samad (both injured). Tampines’ top three top-scorers have left the club and this season’s goal scoring responsibility will be handed to the S-league’s shortest striker Aliff Shafein and the chinese misfit, Qiu Li.

Gombak’s Precious Emujeraye will miss this game through suspension carried over from last season. He will be most probably replaced by recent sigining Bah Mahmoudou. Fadhil Salim takes over the goalkeeping role from Adi Salleh and should be a safe pair of hands.

Gombak are S-League possible answer to BPL’s Portsmouth as they have the most number of africans in their team. Precious and Emmanuel Emujeraye, Gabriel Obatula, Richard Kingsley, Agu Casmir and Bah Mahmoudou make up the strong african contingent though Precious, Casmir and Mahmoudou are now “naturalised Singaporeans”.

With so many injuries and unavailabilty of players, Tampines would be very happy to come back from Jurong West with a point. However, Gombak are already eyeing the Tampines’ third position in the league and have a good chance of beating Tampines at home.

Go for the Bulls to maul down the Stags !!